Clipper blade sharpener



May 26, 1970 c. s. FISHER 3,513,602

CLIPPER BLADE SHARPENER Filed Oct. 50. 1967 INVENTOR. I 31 CHARLES S.HsHER #TTOP/V'YS United States Patent O 3,513,602 CLIPPER BLADESHARPENER Charles S. Fisher, 10101 Adams, Huntington Beach, Calif. 92646Filed Oct. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 679,130 Int. Cl. B24b 19/00 US. Cl.51--241 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clipper blade sharpener tobe substituted for a first blade of a pair of clipper blades forsharpening the second blade of the pair of blades. The sharpenerincludes a base plate of substantially the same thickness as the firstblade of the pair of blades. The plate includes a fiat surface and anabrasive sheet is removably afiixed thereto. Means are provided forattaching the plate to the clippers whereby the first blade of the pairof clipper blades can be removed, the sharpener substituted therefor,and the clippers operated to cause relative reciprocation between theabrasive sheet and the second blade.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to sharpeners for hair clipper blades.

Description of the prior art There are no clipper blade sharpeners knownto the inventor that include abrasive means that are removable andreplaceable. The sharpener of present invention also offers theadvantage that it can be installed for sharpening without using a screwdriver or similar tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The clipper blade sharpener of presentinvention is adapted for sharpening one blade of a pair of clipperblades and includes a base plate that is substantially the samethickness as the other blade of the pair of blades whereby it can besubstituted for such other blade. The plate has one flat surface onwhich is disposed a sheet of abrasive material. Means are provided forremovably securing the abrasive sheet to the plate so it can be replacedwhen worn. The sharpener includes coupling means for fastening it to theclippers so operation of the clippers will reciprocate the one bladerelative to the abrasive sheet.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent fromconsideration of the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of oneembodiment of a clipper blade sharpener of the present invention, thesharpener being shown attached to a pair of clippers;

FIG. 2 is a second embodiment of a clipper blade sharpener of thepresent invention, the sharpener being shown attached to a pair ofclippers;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the clipper blade sharpener shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the clipper blade sharpener shown inFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the clipper blade sharpener shownin FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines 66 of FIG.1;

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines 7-7 of FIG.2; and

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken from thecircle designated 8 in FIG. 6.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The sharpener S show in FIGS. 1and 3 includes a rectangular base plate 11 which has a sheet ofupwardlyfacing emery paper, generally designated 13, removably attachedto its upper surface. The sharpener S is affixed to the clippers C andthe clippers operated to reciprocate the movable blade B on the emerypaper 13 thereby sharpening the blade.

Hair clippers sold under the trademark Oster Model 10 include a pair ofblades comprised of a reciprocable blade B and a stationary blade B. Thereciprocable blade B is installed on the stationary blade B and retainedthereon by a U-shaped retainer 17 that includes a downwardly turned andslightly reversed free edge 18 which fits into a groove 19 included onthe top side of the blade B.

A mounting clip, generally designated 21, is fastened between the legsof the U-shaped retainer 17 and includes a raised mid-portion 22 whichdefines an open-ended passage 23 for receiving a forwardly projectingflapper 24 (FIG. 7) included in the clippers C. The clip 21 includes apair of spaced-apart ears 21a and 2111 which receive a stop 25 (FIG. 7)therebetween when the sharpener S is installed on the clippers C. Theflapper 24 is biased to the latched position, shown in solid lines inFIG. 7, and can be pivoted downwardly on its mounting pin 26 to theclipreceiving position shown in broken lines. When the blade B is in theposition shown in solid lines in FIG. 7, a latching lip 27 extends downin front of the clip 21 to retain the blade B from forward movement.

The top surface, or face, 31 of the base plate 11 is lapped to provide aflat reference plane for the emery paper 13. Referring to FIG. 8, theemery paper 13 includes a thick paper 33 having an adhesive material 35on its back side and abrasive material 37 on its face. The emery paper13 is supplied with the adhesive material 35 covered by a pull tape (notshown) whereby a sheet of worn emery paper 13 can be easily removed fromthe plate 11 and a new sheet applied by merely removing the pull tape(not shown) and pressing the emery paper 13 onto the face 31 of theplate 11.

A U-shaped retainer, generally designated 41, is attached to the rear ofthe plate 11 and projects forwardly over the emery paper 13. The forwardextremity of the retainer 41 is turned downwardly and terminates in arunner in the form of an edge 43 (FIG. 6) which is received in thegroove 19 of the blade B when such blade is placed on the sharpener Sfor sharpening. The rearward extremity of the legs of the retainer 41are turned back under themselves to form mounting tabs 45 (FIG. 3).

With continued reference to FIG. 3, a mounting clip, generallydesignated 47, is disposed between the legs of the retainer 41 andincludes a pair of oppositely projecting fastening tabs 51 which overliethe retainer mounting tabs 45. The base plate 11 includes a pair ofmounting bores, with which pairs of bores in the respective retainermounting tabs 45 and clip fastening tabs 51 are aligned, the clipfastening tab bores being threaded to receive thumb screws 55 etxendingup through the bores in the base plate (FIG. 6).

The clip 41 is formed with a raised central portion 57, which cooperateswith the base plate 11 to form an open ended flapper receiving passage59. The raised central portion 57 projects forwardly and is turnedupwardly at its opposite extremities to form a pair of spaced apart ears61 and 63 which fit on opposite sides of the above described stop 25(FIG. 6) to prevent reciprocation of the sharpener S relative to theclippers C. A cutout 65 is included at the front of the raised clipportion 57 for re ceiving the downwardly turned latching lip 27 (FIG.6).

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, it is noted that the reciprocable blade Bincludes a keyway 69 extending in from its back edge which is engaged bya driver 71 projecting downwardly from the clippers C for reciprocatingthe blade B relative to the emery paper 13.

The sharpener S shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 is intended for sharpening thestationary blade B of the clippers C. The sharpener S includes a baseplate 75 that is of the same thickness as the reciprocable blade B andwhich has a downwardly facing lapped surface 77. A sheet of emery paper79, similar to the paper 13, is removably fastened to the lapped surface77 by means of adhesive material. The plate 75 includes a runnerreceiving groove 81 which is fiared on its ends to facilitate insertionof the sharpener S under the retainer 19. The rear portion of the plate75 is beveled at 83 to clear the downwardly and rearwardly slopingretainer 19.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, a rearwardly opening keyway 89 is includedin the rear portion of the plate 75 for receiving the downwardlyprojecting drive 71.

In operation, when it is desirable to sharpen the reciprocable blade Bof a pair of clipper blades, the stationary blade B is removed from theclippers C and the reciprocable blade B inserted under the retainer 41,as shown in FIG. 3. The sharpener S is then attached to the clippers Cby fitting the mounting clip 47 over the flapper 24 and snapping theflapper upwardly around its pin 26 to bring the keyway 69 of the blade Binto engagement with the driver 71, as shown in FIG. 6. With thesharpener S so assembled, the clippers C can be operated and thesharpener S will be held stationary by the stop 25 while the blade B isreciprocated by the driver 71. During such reciprocation, the blade Bwill be held tightly against the emery paper 13 by the resilientretainer 41 thereby effecting rapid sharpening of the blade B.

To sharpen the stationary blade B, the reciprocable blade B is removedtherefrom and the sharpener S slid under the retainer 19. The blade B isthen reinstalled on the clippers C by fitting the clip 21 over theflapper 24 and pivoting the flapper up to maintain the driver 71 engagedin the keyway 89. The clippers C will then be operated to reciprocatethe sharpener S while the blade B is held stationary thus honing the topside of the blade B on the emery paper 13.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the sharpenders S and S ofpresent invention provide means whereby clipper blades B and B may besharpened without sending them to a professional sharpener. Thesharpeners S and S have a flat reference surface for receiving abrasiveemery paper and each time the emery paper is replaced such flat surfaceremains unaltered thereby assuring a true reference surface to back theemery paper. Further, the sharpeners S and S can be utilized without anyadditional tools such as pliers or screw drivers.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to theforegoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of theinvention or the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

1. A clipper blade sharpener for sharpening the reciprocable bladeincluded in a pair of clippers of the type that includes a pivotablymounted flapper that is pivotable downwardly to an open position forreceiving the stationary blade and is biased upwardly to a closedposition urging said stationary blade against the underside of thereciprocable blade and, further, includes a stop, said sharpenercomprising:

a base plate formed with an upwardly facing flat surface;

an abrasive sheet disposed on said flat surface;

means for removably attaching said abrasive sheet to said flat surface;

a mounting clip mounted on said plate and formed with an open endedpassage for receiving said flapper; and

at least one ear mounted on said base plate for engaging said stopwhereby said stationary blade may be removed from said pair of clippers,said flapper pivoted to its open position, inserted in said passage, andthen pivoted to its closed position to urge said sharpener against saidreciprocable blade and engage said ear with said stop so saidreciprocable blade may be reciprocated by actuating said clippers tothereby sharpen said reciprocable blade on said abrasive sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,052,025 9/1962 Ring 302211,002,095 8/1911 Tinline 51246 874,671 12/1907 Gould.

2,503,322 4/1950 Clark 51246 1,571,555 2/1926 Niesen 30-138 JAMES L. IONES, 112., Primary Examiner

